Australian Businesswomen Work the Web The Australian Businesswomen’s Network uses latest web-based learning to reach businesswomen all over the country.
Sydney, 13 March, 2007 – Australian businesswomen now have a virtual place to learn business skills, meet and exchange ideas and best practices. WebEx, the leading provider of on-demand applications for collaborative business on the web, has been selected as the web-based meeting platform for the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s MentorNet program. MentorNet (a six-month program for women business owners funded by the Australian Government as part of their Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business program) supports businesswomen through business education, networking and mentoring.
The program is the first national mentoring program for women and combines online meetings and the latest in learning technologies. Leveraging the unique capabilities of WebEx, MentorNet will provide 180 small businesses throughout Australia mentoring via its web collaboration platform. Suzi Dafnis, National General Manager of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network, was determined that geographic location shouldn’t restrict opportunities for Australian businesswomen.
“We are a national organisation and I want women in business, no matter where they are, to have access to good business education and mentoring. WebEx allows us to do that; it’s an easy to use, collaborative platform that can be accessed from anywhere in the country with an Internet connection. Business owners aren’t just based in Sydney or Melbourne. With WebEx women in Darwin can easily meet with women in Taree or Wagga. Australia is a vast country and with the aid of on-demand services such as WebEx, MentorNet can deliver a mentoring and networking opportunity regardless of your physical location.”
The MentorNet program includes a series of structured business skills training, small group mentoring and peer support. Dafnis explains why WebEx is such a hit with the program.
“Webex goes beyond the staid PowerPoint presentation. It allows much more interaction. We use WebEx for all synchronous work (such as content delivered by business experts) as it’s a way to learn and share information as a group – while minimizing valuable time out of the office for the small-business owners. It is also a platform for teamwork; the interactive online platform drives productivity in a less traditional and more collaborative way. It takes the isolation out of the distance learning process –mentorees are actively involved with the presentations , which helps their learning process.”
Kevin Mackin, the Australian Director for WebEx sees WebEx as a highly interactive web meeting platform.
“The beauty of WebEx is its interactivity. Traditional PowerPoint presentations can be quite dry… but with WebEx the facilitator can invite mentorees to raise their hand if they have a question, check a box if they haven’t understood a question, have an instant messenger-type chat with colleagues or the facilitator or even write directly onto the slides for everyone else to see. It makes the presentation much livelier and more relevant to each of the individuals involved.” “WebEx users demand quite specific applications and features. This drives a constant evolution for the technology that keeps WebEx in such a strong position and a favourite with our customers,” added Mackin.
Frost & Sullivan recently named WebEx as the leader in collaborative web meetings in the ‘Asia Pacific Web Conferencing Services Market CY 2005’ study. WebEx currently offers a free 14-day trial of its award-winning WebEx Meeting Center service. For more information, or to sign up for the free trial, please go to, webex.com/go/autrial
WebEx provides on-demand collaboration applications to individuals, small businesses and enterprise organisations. WebEx applications combine both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration capabilities and enable businesses to leverage the web as an efficient channel for interaction with customers, partners and co-workers. WebEx Connect, the first collaborative on-demand platform, enables developers and customers to integrate multiple applications to create powerful collaborative business “mashup” solutions from web-based, on-premises and desktop applications. WebEx Connect brings together people, process and data in a collaborative workspace designed for the way businesses work today.
About WebEx With more than 2 million registered users, WebEx is the global leader in on-demand applications for collaborative business on the web. These applications enhance high-touch business processes, such as sales and training, with efficient web-touch interactions. As an on-demand provider, WebEx is able to facilitate both internal and external collaboration. WebEx delivers its range of applications over the WebEx MediaTone Network, a global network specifically designed for the secure delivery of on-demand applications. WebEx is based in Santa Clara, California and has regional headquarters in Europe, Asia and Australia. Please call toll free 877-509-3239 or visit www.webex.com for more information
About HerBusiness and the MentorNet Program HerBusiness is a national network of women business owners. The organization provides business education and networking opportunities as well as mentoring using the latest technologies to reach women in even the most remote parts of Australia.
WebEx and MediaTone are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of WebEx Communications Inc.
